Camp Crocodile Mongu: African Safari Vacation at its wildest

This post is written by my brother, Graham Hill, who is married to my partner, Meredith Hill.  The boys, Graham and my husband, Mark, left for Mongu, Zambia on Thursday 3rd September to go crocodile egg collecting for three weeks.  Every few days I will be posting updates from the boys on their journey.

Sunset on the Zambezi River near Mongu

Well it is time for the annual pilgrimage to Mongu to collect eggs for our crocodile farm. I call it a pilgrimage because in a sense it truly is. I grew up in Africa, spent all my informative years there and would dearly love to spend more time there. Once Africa is flowing in your blood, it is very difficult to ignore her constant calling. It is the one time of the year that I can go to the  “bush” and get back to my African roots.  No responsibilities as a husband or father, no TV, Blackberry, iTouch or e-mail, no fast food or Seven-11 and no corporate America for 2 whole weeks.

Crocodile Mongu Camp Site

Instead, I get to camp on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River, catch a lot of my own food, soak up the unique smells of Africa, sit on the river bank sipping a warm beer (not much ice out there) while watching the most gorgeous sunsets during makoro (dug out wooden, canoe) rush hour, gaze into the star filled skies at night trying to find my beloved Southern Cross, eat delicious food cooked over a charcoal fire and bathe every day on a Caribbean-esque, sugar white, powdery sandbank. Ok, there might be a lot of dirty work to do during the day but that pales in comparison to the primitive beauty of the place.

Mongu is the provincial capital of the Western Province (also known as Barotseland) of Zambia, roughly 400 miles due east of the capital Lusaka. The local inhabitants are Lozi and their King is called the Litunga, King of Barotseland, has his palace a few miles down the road. The Western Province is relatively poor in natural resources, is very undeveloped with virtually no industry of any sort, no commercial agriculture and very few opportunities for job creation. There has been a major seismic survey by the oil companies and reports suggest that there might be oil in the region, however this is still many years away from production if substantiated. A few years ago, a diamond firm dredged the river, again reportedly found diamonds.  However, we all suspect that they were, in reality, blood diamonds, originating from Angola, a short distance away. The local chief who we lease our farm from reliably informs us that the rivers on the Angolan side of the border are full of rough diamonds.

Mongu Harbor

My father has built the farm from virgin bush into an operable business in a little over 3 years. This is my 4th trip there.  Every time I go, it is an inspiration to see what can be achieved despite an extremely limited budget, large distances from any manufacturing center and the huge disadvantage of not being able to amble down to the local Lowes to purchase supplies.

Crocodile pens at Camp Mongu

Everything either has to be imported or sourced in Lusaka, a good 400 miles away or 8 hours by vehicle. If something needs to be built and there is no part, the African way is to “make a plan”. A fairly decent example of this would be fencing that surrounds and partitions all the croc pens. For our first set of grower ponds, we installed diamond mesh fencing. Well, crocs being curious little things, started piling up at the separator fence, digging under the fence and pushing their way through the fence to get across and play with their neighbors. It ruins the fence, causes a lot of damage to the skins, kills a few who get caught and stresses out the crocs who then stop eating. Dad found out that some of the mines in the Copperbelt were throwing away old conveyer belting and asked if he could take it off their hands. This material is basically rubber, is about a meter wide and 2 inches thick, no croc is going to see through it, dig through it or cut their bellies on it. “Making a plan” in this instance, halved our fencing cost and improved the grower facilities dramatically.

Crocodile pens at Camp Mongu

Egg Collection is done on and around the Zambezi River which is a straight line 10 miles from Mongu.  However, our route along the Mongu Channel and Little Zambezi makes for a hazardous 20 mile trip. This will be explained in a subsequent blog.

Sunset at Crocodile Mongu Camp

Our camp is a mile upriver from the confluence of the Mongu Channel and the Zambezi. We camp under virtually the only cluster of trees for miles around which gives us some respite from the sun and wind. Camp is pretty primitive at best. We use a long drop, have very limited power (although this year I went against my “green” roots and purchased a small generator), our shower is powered by a small 12V pump attached to a car battery, drinking water has to be purified by either chlorine (basically diluted chlorine) or a fancy reverse osmosis hand pump, our refrigeration is a resupply of ice every 3 – 4 days and a lot of our food is caught an hour or so before supper.

Our friends who visit Camp Crocodile Mongu

There is virtually no wildlife around except for the wonderful birdlife and the odd hippo that has not been chased away. We do get some domestic “wildlife”, pigs and cattle, frequenting our slice of paradise from time to time. Normally, it is because the little local boys want to sit around checking us out, pointing out our fishing deficiencies and hoping for a piece of candy or two. Second village headman, Mr Nakamai, also likes to put in an appearance to update us on the English Premier League Soccer scores. What a character he is, however it is about time to end this chapter and enlighten y’all about his endeavors in a later blog.

Camp Crocodile Mongu

Do you think you would like to join them in 2010?  Please leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts.

Thanks!

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